Shirt-bosom-ironing machine



F. BALZER.

sum BOSOM IRONING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 9, I916.

Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

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APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 9, I916.

1,328,807, Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

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F. BALZER.

SHIRT BOSOM IRQNING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 9. 1916.

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SHIRT BOSOM IRONINGEMACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 5- Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

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Jive/2L fia'fz BaZzer UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRITZ BALZER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO TROY LAUNDRY MACHINERY COMPANY, LTD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SHIRT-BOSOM-IRONING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

Application filed September 9, 1916. Serial No. 119,198.

dry machines and more particularly to shirt bosom pressers.

It is desirable that shirt-bosom pressers should comprise a plurality of shirt boards and a single ironing platen which succeS- sively cooperates with each of the shirt boards, so that while a shirt on one board is being ironed the attendant may remove the ironed shirt from another board and then place thereon. in position to be ironed, an other shirt. thereby practically doubling both the capacity of the machineand the Work which may be done by the attendant.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a shirt-bosom press of the character referred to in which the shirt boards are stationary and the ironing platen is bodily movable in a horizontal plane alternately above each of the shirt boards and then moved vertically into pressing engagement with the shirt on the underlying board.

A further object of my invention is to provide a pressing machine which will be comparatively simple in construction, convenient in'operation, and eflicient in use.

My invention will be more fully described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the same is illustrated as embodied in a convenient and practical form, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevational view;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view; I

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view of the automatic stopping mechanism;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical section through the coupling for the supply and discharge of steam to and from the ironing platen;

Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the side 'members of the coupling;

Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional view through the steam heated ironing platen, the pipe connections being shown in plan. and

Fig. 8 is a vertical section through the ironing platen, the pipe connections being shown in'elevatlon.

Similar reference characters are used to "designate similar parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Reference letter A designates a vertical standard mounted upon a base a adapted to rest upon the floor of the laundry. B and B designate diverging brackets extending upwardl and outwardly from the base (1, upon which C and C upon which are placed the shirts, the bosoms of which are to be ironed. D designates a steam heated ironing platen of. a size conforming to the shirt boards and formed with a recess at'its inner end to receive the neck-band of the shirt. E designates a lever at the outer end of which is supported the ironing platen D. The lever E is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends to swing both horizontally and vertically by means of a fulcrum F, rotatably supported upon the upper end of the standard A, a suitable anti-friction bearing being interposed between the base of the fulcrum and thetop of the standard. The fulcrum F comprises a pair of spaced ears 6 between which extends a horizontal rod 6 upon which the lever E oscillates vertically. G designates a weight carried by the end of the lever E opposite to that which supports the platen D for normally lifting the platen out of contact with the underlying shirt board.

H and H indicate a pair of vertical plungers, supported by pairs of brackets b and k projecting from the rear of the standard A. Each of the plungers H and H is surrounded by a coiled spring H. the upper end of which engages a collar h fixed to the plunger, and the lower end of which rests upon the bracket it through which the plunger reciprocates. Supported upon the upper ends of the plungers H and H are angular seats J and J respectively. which arevertically adjustable upon the plungers by means of screw threaded engagement with the plungers, lock-nuts J being provided for retaining the seats in their adjusted positions upon the plungers. Pairs of toggle links K and K are interposed between and pivotally connected to the lower ends of the plungers and stationary supports such for instance, as lugs In on the base are suitably supported boards 65 a. L designates an elliptical cam having a porting frame.

' Rigidly mounted upon the shaft M is a worm-wheel M which meshes with a worm N fixed upon a horizontal shaft N extending at right angles to the shaft M and j ournaled in bearings n and 11? formed on the supporting frame. 0 designates a belt ulley fixed upon the shaft N, and O a elt pulley loosely mounted upon said shaft. 0 designates a belt shifting bracket secured to a horizontally reciprocating shaft 0, the latter being mounted in bearings 0 and 0 on the supporting frame. Collars p and p are fixed upon the shaft 0, which are engaged b Y bell-crank levers P and P mounted by means of suitable brackets P to oscillate horizontally upon the supporting frame. The arms of the bell-crank levers opposite to those which engage the collars on the shaft 0 are pivotally connected to the upper ends of two vertically oscillating bell-crank levers Q and Q? suitably fulcrumed upon lugs Q on the base a. A spring g is interposed between the base a and the outwardly projecting portion of each of the bell-crank levers Q and Q the tension of which normally oscillates the upwardly projecting arm of such bellcrank lever inwardly. Foot treadles and are provided on the ends of the lower arms of the bell-crank levers Q and Q for permitting oscillation of such levers against the tension of the springs q. The bell-crank lever Q is preferably arranged beneath one of the shirt boards. as for instance, C and the bell-crank lever Q is arranged under the other shirt-board C Fixed upon the shaft M is a disk R haw ing four radial projections r thereon. located 90 apart, and two of them radially alining with the shorter radius of the cam L, and the other two alining with the longer radius of said cam. A lever S is fulcrumed upon a bracket s projecting from a portion of the supporting frame, one end of said lever overlying the periphery of the disk R, and the other end of said lever being connected to a vertical plunger S The lunger S is guided by a sleeve 8 projecting from the supporting frame. A spring S is interposed between a collar 8 fixed upon the plunger S and a flange projecting from the lower end of the guide sleeve 8 the tension of such spring serving to move the plunger S upwardly so as to project a reduced end 5' thereon into a recess a formed in the overlying reciprocating shaft 09 board. Any suitable clamping means (not shown) may be provided for retaining the shirt in the desired position upon the board. The treadle g is then depressed, thereby oscillating the bell-crank lever Q so as to swing its upper end outwardly, which in turn oscillates the bell-crankdever P in a direction to reciprocate the rod 0 toward the left against the tension of the spring 0?. This movement of the rod o shifts the driving belt from the loose pulley '0 to 0 the tight pulley 0 thereby effecting the rotation of the shaft N, and through the medium of the worm N and worm-wheel M the rotation of the shaft M. The rod 0 is retained in such position through the engagement of the upper end of the plunger S with the recess 8 in the said rod. The rotation of the shaft M rotates the elliptical cam L, so that the joints of the pairs of toggle links are moved outwardly through the engagement of the studs on the joints of the links with the groove 1 in the cam.

This movement of the toggle links lowers the plungers H and H so that the counter balance G oscillates the lever E in a direction to lift the ironing platen D away from the shirt board lVhen the cam L has been rotated 90 so that the pairs of toggle links have been moved apart the maximum distance owing to the longer diameter of the groove Z engaging the studs in and 7c,

the corresponding projection r on the disk R engages the overlying end of the lever S, thereby oscillating the same in a direction to lower the plunger S and withdraw the upper reduced end thereof from engagement with the recess in the rod 0. The spring 0 then moves the rod 0 in a direction to shift the belt to the loose pulley, thereby discontinuing the application of power and stopping the movement of the cam L.

The ironing platen D is then swung laterally by the attendant grasping the handle (Z until it overlies the shirt board C In such position of the platen the portion of the lever E, intermediate its fulcrum and the counterbalance G, overlies the angular seat J on the upper end of the plunger H The foot treadle is again depressed, thereby shifting the belt to the tight pulley so which rests upon When the cam for 'treadle is depressed thereby applying power to rotate the cam -L 90 and depress the plungers so that the ironing platen will be moved vertically out of contact with'the bosom of the shirt on the board C The platen is then swung horizontally by the attendant into vertical alinement with the board C after which the treadle g is again depressed to rotate the cam L 90 and thereby oscillate the lever E through the engage ment of the annular seat J therewith, and force the ironing surface of the platen against the bottom of the shirt on the board C In order that the platen D may be maintained in the heated condition necessary to properly iron the shirt bosoms, it is provided with a steam chest preferably having partitions 03 therein, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, to cause the circulation of steam through all portions of the steam chest. Steam is supplied through a conduit T and is delivered from the steam chest to a conduit T The ends of said conduits, oppo- -site to the ends which are connected with the steam chest, are connected through a suitable flexible coupling with stationary supply and exhaust pipes WV and W within the upper end of the standard A in vertical alinement with the axis of oscillation of the lever E. The flexible steam coupling comprises parallel hollow members t and t pivotally supporting between their Opposed outer ends a transverse hollow member T with which are connected the pipes T and T a partition if being provided to separate the portions of such member with which said pipes are connected. The opposite ends of the parallel hollow members it and t are pivotally connected with a stationary member U, having a partition u therein. The hollow members 2? and t are yieldingly connected by a pair of transverse rods V which extend through such members and are provided with springs 12 between the nuts ontheir 'end'sand the adjacent surfaces of the said members, the tension of said spring serving to yieldingly retain the ends of said members in tight engagement with the ends of the transverse member T and with portions of a fixed member U. The member U is provided with an upwardly projecting portion U with which is conend of the steam exhaust conduit W".

nected, by a suitable steam-tight joint, the end a: of the steam supply conduit W, a similar portion U depending from the member U with which is coupled the upper ny suitable coupling means. may be provided for connecting the steam and exhaust conduits with the engaged portions of the member U, Which will permit the rotation-of the member U and at the same time prevent leakage. In' the drawings, I have shown such steam tight connections to be formed by means of radial flanges 101 around the lower end of the steam-supply conduit W suit-able packing material being provided between the lower of sald flanges and the upper portion U of the member U, and between the upper of said flanges and the surrounding cup-shaped coupling X Rods Y and Y yieldingly connect the coupling X with the upper portion U by means of coiled springs y and 1 being interposed between the upper and lower ends of such rods, and the adjacent surfaces of the parts through which they extend. A similar steam-tight coupling is provided between the upper end of the steam'exhaust conduit V and the depending portion U of the member U. I

The coupling mechanism above described permits the continuous suppl and exhaust of steam to the chest in the lroning platen D during all movements of such platen, both vertically and horizontally.

The shirt boards C and C are also preferably provided with steam'chests through which steam is supplied and exhausted by suitable conduits Z and Z which communicate with the fixed conduits W and W From the foregoing description, it will be observed that I have invented an improved pressing machine, particularly adapted for ironing the bosoms of shirts, which may be conveniently operated by an attendant, and which permits one shirt to be ironed while another shirt is being placed in position to be ironed.

While I have described more'or less precisely the details of construction, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto, as I contemplate changes in form and the proportion of parts and the substitution of equivalents as circumstances may suggest or render expedient without depart- "ingfronr the; spirit *ofemyinvention.

What I claim is: 1. In a pressing machine, the combination "with a plurality of stationary pressing members on which the articles to be pressed are placed, of a cooperating single ironing laten, a weighted arm pivoted intermediate its ends carrying said platen at one end thereof, said arm arranged to be swung hori- K zontally and vertically whereby the.platen may have successlve cooperative engagement with said pressing members, said Weighted arm tending normally to raise said platen from pressing engagement, and power actuated means effective for the several positions into whiclrthe arm may be swung to aline with any one of the several presser members for moving said platen into pressing engagement with said pressing member.

2. "In a pressing machine, the combination with a plurality of stationary pressing members upon which the articles to be pressed are placed, of a cooperating mo 'able pressing member, a lever upon which said movable member is supported, means for pivotally' mounting said lever to swing horizontally and vertically to aline said movable member with and move it toward and away from each of said stationary members, a plurality of plungers into operative relation with one of which said lever is moved when said movable member alines with each of said stationary members, power actuated mechanism for reciprocating said plungers and thereby oscillating said lever and moving the movable member toward the alined stationary member, and means for automatically disconnecting the power from said mechanism after a predetermined movement of said lever.

3. In a pressing machine, the combination with a plurality of stationary pressing members upon which the articles to be pressed are placed, of a cooperating movable pressing member, a lever upon which said movable member is supported, means for pivotally mounting said lever to swing horizontally and vertically to aline said movable member with and move it toward and away from each of said stationary members, a plurality of plungcrs into operative relation with one of which said lever is moved when said moving member alines with each ofsaid stationary members, a-pair of toggle links connecting each of said plungers with a fixed support, and power actuated mechanism engaging said toggle links for relatively moving them to effect the reciprocation of said plungers.

4. In a pressing machine, the combination with a plurality of stationary pressing mem bers upon which the articles to be pressed are placed, of a cooperating movable pressing member, a lever by which said movable member is supported, means for pivotally mounting said lever to swing horizontally and vertically to aline said movable memher with and move it toward and away from each of said stationary members, a plurality of plunger-s into operative relation with one of which said lever is moved when said movable member alines with each of said stationary members, a pair of toggle links con necting each of said plungers with a fixed support, an elliptical cam interposed between said pairs of toggle links and engaging each pair at the joint of its links, a shaft connecting with said cam, means for vapplying power to said shaft, and means actuated by a predetermined movement of said shaft for disconnecting the power therefrom.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name.

FRITZ BALZER. 

